Death penalty ban splits legislature

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
7:00 pm EST, Wednesday, March 30, 2005

And death won.
After an impassioned debate in which lawmakers quoted Jesus, recited names of a serial killer's victims and imagined the murder of one of their children, the House voted against a bill that would abolish the death penalty in Connecticut.
The final count was 89 to 60.
Among Danbury area lawmakers, only Rep. Lewis Wallace, D-Danbury, and Rep. Julia Wasserman, R-Newtown, voted for the measure, which would replace death by lethal injection with a sentence of life in prison with no parole.
The debate took place six weeks before the first scheduled execution in Connecticut in 45 years. Michael Ross, who killed eight women in the 1980s, came within hours of being put to death in January before legal questions prompted a delay. He is scheduled to die May 11.
Six other men sit on Connecticut's death row.
Rep. John Frey, R Ridgefield, argued the state has the right to execute those who take human life. He said he could not back a bill that "overturns death sentences of those already convicted of the most heinous crimes."
"Think about someone who actually sat in a jury box and sentenced someone who is living and breathing, with the victim's family present, to death," he said. If the death penalty is banned, "that decision can be overruled."
Rep. William Dyson, D New Haven, spoke like a fiery preacher, quoting Jesus, Moses, British statesman Edmund Burke and former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas as he called for the abolition of capital punishment.
"You can't apply it fairly without discrimination," said Dyson, echoing the arguments of other opponents who say minorities and poor people are sentenced to death more often than white, wealthy defendants.
"The most important words I heard growing up was. 'Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do,' " Dyson said, quoting Jesus. "We ought not to be vengeful, we ought not to seek retribution. Killing is wrong. I believe thou shalt not kill under any circumstances."
Rep. Julia Wasserman, R Newtown, is among a handful of Republicans who voted to repeal the death penalty.
"I don't believe it is a solution for many reasons, mostly philosophical," Wasserman said before the House debate. "The biggest punishment would be incarceration for life."
Death penalty opponents had acknowledged that the abolition bill had no chance of passing. However, they wanted a debate before Ross' scheduled May 11 execution. Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell vowed to veto any attempt to ban the death penalty. Still, Rell said in a statement, she thought the House debate was important.
"Many legislators have never participated in this debate, and it was valuable for them to be able to hear the views of proponents and opponents," she said.
Rep. Lawrence Cafero, R Norwalk, named all of Ross' victims, some of whom were raped before they were killed. Cafero said he supports Connecticut's death penalty because it is reserved for the worst killers and the most heinous crimes.
"I turn on the TV and (read) in the newspapers about certain executions in Texas and Florida, which have it quite often," Cafero said. "It doesn't happen so often in Connecticut. It is extremely difficult to be given this sort of death sentence."
The vast majority of Connecticut killers get prison sentences. Juries can call for the death penalty only if the crime is particularly brutal, if more than one person is killed or if the victims are children, police officers or others listed in state statutes.
Rep. David Scribner, R Brookfield, noted the difficulty in executing someone in Connecticut and said that's reason to believe the state's law is just. "There is no evidence the death penalty is abused or taken lightly," he said after the vote.
Rep. Antoinette Boucher, R Wilton, said she struggled with her decision to keep the death penalty. "I reached this decision based on how I would feel if the victim was my daughter or my 4-year-old son," she said. "If anyone of us could get (the killer), we could not be so compassionate. Families need closure. It is torture for them."
House Minority Leader Robert Ward, R North Branford, talked about the crimes committed by death row inmates, such as killing a police officer and bludgeoning a 15-year-old boy.
Some death penalty foes say the state has no more moral authority than a murderer to take a life. Ward said he doesn't buy that argument, because the state first gives an accused killer due process in the legal system. "Connecticut does have the moral authority in certain crimes to impose the death penalty," Ward said.
Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, who proposed the capital punishment ban, said the tide is turning.. "Not every nation has abolished the death penalty, but virtually every nation we want to be associated with has," said Lawlor.
He also said the Ross case illustrates how the state's death penalty is unworkable. Though Ross says he wants to die, there have been repeated legal obstacles to his execution. Lawlor said life in prison is a more severe sentence.
Rep. Janice Giegler, R Danbury, disagreed. She said killers could end up having access to cable television in prison and receiving an education there.
"I felt to approve of this bill would really commute the sentences of individuals already convicted," Giegler said after the vote. "It should not be up to us to commute these sentences."